The cost of higher education is one of the biggest barriers to studying after school in South Africa. If you are worried about how you or your parent will pay for studying after school, we are here to help.
You have a couple of options on this front, which we will go over now:
First, you could apply to tuition-free programs. These are programs where no one pays fees, and so if you get accepted you won’t have to pay.
This is the easiest way to study for free, because you don’t have to do any additional financial aid or bursary applications.
Some options here are:
Second, you can apply to universities, and then apply for NSFAS. Note that NSFAS is not available for private colleges, and applies to government universities and TVETs (public higher education institutions).
In order to qualify for NSFAS you must:
You will usually need to apply to your universities of choice and NSFAS. When completing your application at the university you are applying to you will usually also need to select the apply for financial aid option. You will have to apply to NSFAS using their online portal, and will need to upload documents to prove your financial need.
Third, you can apply for government funding beyond NSFAS. Options here include:
Fourth, you can apply for private bursaries and scholarships. This is probably the most difficult route to take, as you will need excellent marks and will likely also need a good CV.
Scholarships are also usually offered to students for specific courses of study, and are sometimes also available only for specific universities. They will state what courses and universities they cover on the applications.
You can use this really helpful site to find scholarships and bursaries for what you want to study.
Some well known scholarships you can apply for are:
Some other inexpensive options you can consider, especially if you do not think you will qualify for financial aid, but also don’t think that you can afford university fees:
These courses are much shorter than the typical 3-year university degree, and so even if you have to pay, it will be much less and for a much shorter period of time.
You could also consider these international options, which offer need and merit based financial aid:
There are a couple of things to keep in mind when looking to study for free.
You are amazing, you got this, the FoondaMate team is rooting for you!